"The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed." - Steven Biko
The African Education Project began as an instructional media program servicing independent Black schools in South-Central Los Angeles and Inglewood, California in 1981. The early school sites were primarily The Marcus Garvey School. Washington Preparatory High School, and Uhuru Shule, a preschool program in Inglewood.
AEP initially consisted of volunteers who were members of the Education Committee of the South African Task Force (Omowale Jabali, LaTanya Olive, Karen Demps and Alana Love) and South African students (namely Tim Ngubeni) who were involved with organizing the Steve Biko Project, which was a scholarship program for South African students.
As a founding director of AEP, brother Omowale Jabali wrote the first proposal and as AEP secured funding, the project worked with the South African Task Force in organizing the First South African Solidarity Day program in 1983. In was in this period, between 1981-83 that other volunteers and future directors became active: Everett Evans, Vusisizwe Azania, David Henderson and Nosizwe Chimurenga, just to name a few. It was during this period that from AEP emerged the Inner City Tutorial Project and a brief partnership with the Pride Method School.
AEP was conceptualized within the context of the international anti-apartheid movement, and all of the early organizers, without exception, were involved in student protest on campus. The AEP itself was modeled after the educational programs of the Community Programs of the Black Consciousness Movement of Azania. AEP staff were typically involved also as NOMMO staffers. At the time AEP was conceptualized, Omowale Jabali was the NOMMO International News Editor and NOMMO was utilized as the educational arm of the AEP. NOMMO distribution extended all over the globe, to anti-apartheid organizations such as the Campaign Against Racial Exploitation (CARE) in Australia, and AEP also worked locally with numerous organizations such as the Black United Front of Los Angeles (BUFLA), the Center for Black Survival, the Coalition Against Police Abuse (CAPA), the Coalition to Stop the Racist South African Consulate, and the Free South Africa Movement (from its inception in 1984).
AEP was also involved in the campus struggles against cutbacks to affirmative action programs as well as networking as part of the Statewide Black Student Alliance and the UCLA Third World Coalition. Former AEP directors such as Mandla Kayise were later instrumental in the institutionalization of the Academic Support Program and at this point I must also mention the pivotal role of brother Eric White.
Eric White was not an AEP project director or volunteer. However, it was brother Eric who first organized the South African Task Force. It was in the aftermath of his departure from SATF that divisions started to surface in regards to strategies and tactics, and as a result, I decided to establish AEP to bridge the gap that started to create confusion within our ranks.
I continued to work with AEP up to the Azianian Solidarity Day program in 1987, but in a reduced role after the student protest that led to the establishment of Mandela City (a tent city outside Schoenberg Hall and Murphy Hall) in 1985-86. If I recall, it was also during this period that we assisted Uhuru Shule in moving to a new school site in South Central, in which brother Vusi and others played a central role.
Courtesy of Omowale Jabali
The African Education Project began as an instructional media program servicing independent Black schools in South-Central Los Angeles and Inglewood, California in 1981. The early school sites were primarily The Marcus Garvey School. Washington Preparatory High School, and Uhuru Shule, a preschool program in Inglewood.
AEP initially consisted of volunteers who were members of the Education Committee of the South African Task Force (Omowale Jabali, LaTanya Olive, Karen Demps and Alana Love) and South African students (namely Tim Ngubeni) who were involved with organizing the Steve Biko Project, which was a scholarship program for South African students.
As a founding director of AEP, brother Omowale Jabali wrote the first proposal and as AEP secured funding, the project worked with the South African Task Force in organizing the First South African Solidarity Day program in 1983. In was in this period, between 1981-83 that other volunteers and future directors became active: Everett Evans, Vusisizwe Azania, David Henderson and Nosizwe Chimurenga, just to name a few. It was during this period that from AEP emerged the Inner City Tutorial Project and a brief partnership with the Pride Method School.
AEP was conceptualized within the context of the international anti-apartheid movement, and all of the early organizers, without exception, were involved in student protest on campus. The AEP itself was modeled after the educational programs of the Community Programs of the Black Consciousness Movement of Azania. AEP staff were typically involved also as NOMMO staffers. At the time AEP was conceptualized, Omowale Jabali was the NOMMO International News Editor and NOMMO was utilized as the educational arm of the AEP. NOMMO distribution extended all over the globe, to anti-apartheid organizations such as the Campaign Against Racial Exploitation (CARE) in Australia, and AEP also worked locally with numerous organizations such as the Black United Front of Los Angeles (BUFLA), the Center for Black Survival, the Coalition Against Police Abuse (CAPA), the Coalition to Stop the Racist South African Consulate, and the Free South Africa Movement (from its inception in 1984).
AEP was also involved in the campus struggles against cutbacks to affirmative action programs as well as networking as part of the Statewide Black Student Alliance and the UCLA Third World Coalition. Former AEP directors such as Mandla Kayise were later instrumental in the institutionalization of the Academic Support Program and at this point I must also mention the pivotal role of brother Eric White.
Eric White was not an AEP project director or volunteer. However, it was brother Eric who first organized the South African Task Force. It was in the aftermath of his departure from SATF that divisions started to surface in regards to strategies and tactics, and as a result, I decided to establish AEP to bridge the gap that started to create confusion within our ranks.
I continued to work with AEP up to the Azianian Solidarity Day program in 1987, but in a reduced role after the student protest that led to the establishment of Mandela City (a tent city outside Schoenberg Hall and Murphy Hall) in 1985-86. If I recall, it was also during this period that we assisted Uhuru Shule in moving to a new school site in South Central, in which brother Vusi and others played a central role.
Courtesy of Omowale Jabali